One Last Dance
by Smiley612
Summary: {He never meant to break her heart, but now he has one night to make it right, before they say goodbye.} / At his and Mara's wedding, Fabian pays Nina that dance he's owed her for eight years. They try to make peace with the past and start again, but with some disheartening news and Fabian's marriage in the way, the two past lovers might not have a second chance. One-shot.


** A/N: I'm entering this in FABINALIVES's contest, even though it wasn't originally intended for said contest. I've had this idea since September, so I hope you all enjoy the amount of thought and preparation that went into writing this (I rewrote this three times before I came out with a draft I liked).**

**Dedicated to clarksonwriter17 and likestarlight because Paige has been waiting for this for 7 months and I know how much Amber loves Fabina angst. **

**There's nothing too major to be warned about [I don't even think there are any curse words?], but I do hope you enjoy, and please leave a review :)**

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one last dance

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_so wait up, wait up, give me one more chance—_

_just one song, then i'll move on—_

_i just need one last dance with you_

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Her head rested in the palm of her hand, spinning her straw around in circles in her pink lemonade. Nina Martin sat alone at table eight, surrounded by eleven other humans she didn't know personally, because — of course — she _had_ to sit at the table with the pile of last-minute invites, the **capture** at the end of a fishing line after a hard day of work that you weren't hoping for, but kept anyway.

Her straw was most likely dizzy from all the circles it had run. Watching the ice move and dissolve in the water was more entertaining to her than watching the action around her at the Rutter-Jaffray wedding.

She'd always believed in happy endings, even as a little girl. Movies told her that if two people were honestly right for each other, they'd always find one another in the end, no matter who came into the picture, or what obstacles they'd have to face. Soul mates would _always_ find their way back to the other; even barricades as strong as death could not block love. It could only delay it for a little while.

However, on November 22nd, 2018, Nina had watched the man she was still in love with exchange vows with another woman.

Mara Jaffray looked absolutely stunning in her gown; it was fitted to shape her curved body perfectly, bringing out her hips and breasts. It was traditionally white with small, woven flowers near the thigh. She wore her **veil** over her head and a smile on her face as she walked down the aisle with her father. Nina could only wish she was that beautiful.

Mara wanted a tradition wedding, even though they didn't marry in a church. Her "something old" was her grandmother's pendent, the "something new" was Joy's pearl necklace that Jerome had bought for her for her birthday in July, her "something blue" combined two things; Mara decided to **borrow** Patricia's blue ankle bracelet.

Her outfit was complete, and Fabian looked blown away by her beauty. She never wished to be in someone's shoes so much in her life.

She'd watched Fabian, at the alter, tell Mara how she was his best friend, his princess, his study buddy, and the love of his life. She'd seen him look at her with such love in his eyes; the type of love Fabian had never looked at Nina with. She'd watched them kiss when the pastor told them so, and stood up along with everyone else, no matter how much she wanted to intervene.

It wasn't until she had watched them walk down the aisle as a married couple, arm-in-arm, that she realized how incredibly dumb she sounded. How could she possibly ruin two peoples happy lives with her words? Nina would be ruining a marriage, tearing apart two bound-by-love people.

Her relationship with Fabian in high school would be referred to nothing more than two teenagers fooling around. They were stupid and reckless and thoughtless in high school, during their chase as they raced to find the Cup of Ankh and the Mask of Anubis before the teachers. Their adventures in the House of Anubis were over now.

Nina had made the decision to leave in her last year, and Fabian had moved on, exactly as the letter told him to. Her feelings for Fabian, now, could be referred to nothing more than.

_Just two teenagers fooling around._

"Nina."

A quick and thoughtless glance upwards after hearing her name revealed everything Nina had waited for: a man with long, dark brown **hair** combed to the side and a brand-new grey tuxedo worn over his large frame. His deep brown eyes were as warm and welcoming as Nina had remembered them to be.

"Fabian," Nina breathed, once his face had registered within her. Her hands shook as she attempted to straighten out her dress and put her lemonade on the table slowly, while staring up at him and trying not to fall over.

She honestly wasn't planning on talking to him; if she was sitting at the table with the people who almost weren't invited (but Fabian and Mara decided to last-minute), why would Fabian even want to make eye contact with her, especially after all she did to him in their last year of high school? Her **purple** dress was uneven and her makeup wasn't on correctly.

Nina couldn't see Fabian's face as she slowly stood, leaving her chair behind her. She caught Fabian's gaze right after, but he was already staring at her.

"Nina," Fabian replied slowly, his face transforming into a large grin. He said her name with such confidence, as if her name was one of the few things he was sure about. The smile never left his face.

"Sh—shouldn't you be with Mara?" Nina stuttered, glancing at the ground once she had made eye contact with him for much too long. "You know...your wife?"

Mara, in her gorgeous white wedding gown, was sitting by the uncut wedding cake. She wasn't alone, however; Patricia and Joy, in their red bridesmaid gowns, were talking to her to keep her company. It was amazing, really, that all of them had retained their friendship after all this time.

"Maybe," Fabian shrugged simply, as if his new wife was the least of his concerns. "But I wanted to talk to you."

For a moment, Nina stood in silence. A minute ago, she was thinking about leaving early without even saying goodbye to Amber. No one was talking to her, and she certainly wouldn't go up and dance by herself. If no one had noticed she was there while the wedding party was eating dinner, they certainly wouldn't notice her as she left.

Now, Fabian Rutter — the one and only groom — had taken time out of his wedding to come over to her. He had willingly walked over to her, knowing that Nina had left him nothing but a **letter** as a farewell. "Well, I'm sure that can wait until—"

"Nah, it can't," Fabian interrupted, his smile growing larger. His eyes never left hers. "Nina, would you like to dance with me?"

"...What?"

"Would you like to dance with me?" Fabian said, slowly enunciating the syllables as if she was deaf.

And even though she could hear him perfectly clear, her mind still couldn't process the sentence. It was all so absurd to her; one moment she was considering leaving, then Fabian came over and decided to talk to her, and now he was offering her a dance. His palm was out and his arm outstretched, as if he was waiting for her to take it.

"I'm not sure if I should—" Nina begun to protest, glancing over her side to the chair where her butt had previously sat. Her legs were shaking like a leaf in a tornado for reasons she couldn't explain; fear? Excitement? Anxiety? She'd have much rather'd sit and calm herself down for a moment before she made any decisions.

"Nonsense," Fabian pushed Nina's worries aside with a wave of his hand. "Besides, it doesn't even matter. Just come with me."

Then, without her permission, Fabian moved his palm and grasped her hand, which was laying limply by her side. Laughing, he dragged her onto the dance floor and ignored her protests and begs to go back to her table. Her complains and his laughter were drowned out by the multiple conversations being had by the hundreds of people in the wedding reception.

The Fabian Rutter that had dragged her out onto the dance floor and was now smiling uncontrollably was remarkably different from the Fabian that Nina had known in high school. The Fabian she had known in the early 2010's was shy, a pushover, and couldn't talk in front of a crowd. Nina had tried to pass on her courage to him, and for a while, she had thought it had worked.

She could only hope that she confidence he radiated at this exact moment was because of her.

"I can't do this," she warned him once they found their way on to the middle of the dance floor, thinking of how badly she danced back in the day. Nina had given up trying to protest spending time with him, no matter how much she wondered why.

"We're gonna have to get a bit closer...like this." He threw her hand around her waist to pull her closer to him. She let out a breath of air that was a cross between fear and excitement, while her head was less than five inches from his shoulder.

The music from the DJ table was loud and energetic; other people, one that Nina didn't know, on the dance floor were jumping around, laughing, and having fun. Fabian, with his hand around Nina's waist, began to slowly move, taking her with him.

"I don't know the steps!" Nina told him breathlessly, this time with more excitement than fear.

"Neither do I," Fabian agreed, taking her hand and dragging her along with him. "Just go with it. Don't think!"

He squeezed her hand tightly and dragged her with him across the dance floor, ignoring the stares and condescending looks they received as they passed by. Their movements were slow compared to the upbeat music, the tips of Nina's high-heels and Fabian's loafers merely inches apart. His strong arms were around her waist, while hers were tangled around his neck.

It must have looked so wrong, seeing the groom dancing with a woman who wasn't his new wife, but to Nina and Fabian they were the only two in the room. The music was drowned out. The chit-chat from the other guests alleviated.

For the first few months after she made the decision to leave Anubis, every time Fabian called her phone, she wanted to pack her bags and move to **Norway** so as she wouldn't receive the calls. She'd feared for the moment when she would actually have to face Fabian again and addressed how she left him...but it almost felt normal — natural — being in his arms.

"See?" Fabian's hand tensed around her waist. His smile was still on his face. "Not so bad after all, are you?"

Nina smiled in response, but couldn't help but look over his shoulder at the table where Mara was sitting. Of course, she wasn't alone, but her husband wasn't next to her. "Fabian, I..."

She couldn't force the words past her lips. "Spit it out, Nina," Fabian encouraged her, squeezing her hand to silently tell her to continue. His concerned expression was the deal-breaker.

"You shouldn't be dancing with me," Nina shook her head in shame. She was such a jealous, embarrassing, and spiteful person; what kind of woman would even _consider_ interrupting her former best friend's wedding? How could she do that to an innocent couple who did nothing wrong except _exist_? "Mara's right, there, and..."

It wasn't as if Nina didn't want to be with Fabian at this moment, for their dance had only just begun, but Mara deserved Fabian more than she did. Nina longed to be with Fabian...she longed to feel his calloused fingers, worn from **years** strumming guitar strings; his warm, welcoming smile that could be mistaken for anxious and alluding; his kind aura she always felt in his presence. Nina missed every aspect about the man in front of her.

Oh, how she_ longed_ to be with him—

"I don't care about Mara," Fabian waved her statement aside. "I asked you to dance for a reason, you know."

Why, after all this time, did Fabian's words still affect Nina so much? Even after 7 years, she could still hear his voice clearly in her head: "_I will not give up; on Sarah, the quest, and certainly not on you_". When Patricia and Amber abandoned her after they found the picture of Victor and his father in his desk, Fabian didn't leave her side.

She still carried the words inside of her, deep within her soul. Fabian had given up on her. Time only heals the wounds that mend.

The new groom and he woman in the cheap $100 dress she bought last-minute caught each other's glances, remaining locked for a few moments. Was Fabian thinking the same selfish thoughts Nina was thinking? Did he want to drop everything and simply—

"Fabian?"

A masculine voice; one that Nina hadn't heard in many years, but was still as pretentious and kind as she remembered it to be; called from across the room. Fabian, immediately, removed his arms from around her waist.

Thinking back on it, it was quite pathetic, but Nina felt empty at that exact moment; like everything she had always dreamed of, everything she worked so hard for, had left her without even a second thought.

He was still only two feet away, but his arms were not around her body. Moving suddenly seemed futile, the world around her barren.

It was Eddie who had called for Fabian's attention; the adult male who, for one reason or another, still had his blond hair gelled in a spike. Eddie and Nina had grown close to each other over the summer after 11th grade, so Nina knew that he had spent hours trying to gel his hair for this special date, since he had terrible **bed** head.

Nina loved Eddie like an older sister loved her younger brother; he was a pain in the ass, but underneath his tough exterior, he was a sweetheart. She couldn't truly be mad at him for interrupting.

Fabian's feet remained glued to the floor while Eddie ran across the wooden floorboards to him, waving and smiling during his short trip. Once he had arrived, the two began to talk, and talk, and talk, and didn't seem to stop talking for god knows how long.

Everyone in the small reception area had most likely spared her a glance at one point or another. That was one thing she didn't want; to be looked at as some kind of joke, the loser who was standing on the dance floor alone.

She regarded Eddie and Fabian once again, chatting and smiling. She looked around the room, at all the tables surrounding her, with hundreds of people sitting in them, yet even though there were plenty of people around her, Nina still felt so alone.

She didn't think she could approach Amber, who was sitting next to Alfie and Willow, talking up a storm with both of them. Willow never peeled her eyes off of Amber, while Alfie seemed deep in thought, content with the people surrounding him. Jerome was now standing behind Joy, who was sitting next to Patricia and Mara at the table with the wedding cake. Mick was sitting alone, but it wasn't like Nina was ever that friendly with him. Eddie was talking with Fabian, and Nina was alone.

She figured she could leave...Fabian would be better without her. He could sit next to his stunning wife, kiss her and hold her in his arms. If Fabian never once called her in her senior year of high school, what made her think he actually wanted to be involved in her life again?

The exit was only fifty feet away. She could grab her car keys from table eight and take off, heading for home. Fabian, or anyone else in Anubis House, would never give another thought to her again.

Was that what she wanted? Most people want to leave a mark on the world, so history knows they existed, but did Nina actually want to feel as if she never existed? To erase everyone's memories of her and die in peace, so no one missed her? Did she really want no pictures of her taken, for no one to know that she breathed the Earth's air once?

She used to be precise in knowing what she wanted.

Now, she cried and knew she couldn't be here, even if she wanted to. If anyone saw her, alone and crying on the dance floor, she'd humiliate herself to a point where she wouldn't be able to live with herself. She wasn't here to try to make an impression on Fabian, but she wasn't going to be here to let him see her like this.

Nina knew she was strong. Her parents died at a young age, and she'd had to live with her grandmother for most of her life. They were barely middle-class for the first few years together. She'd dealt with Patricia's torment in her first few days at Anubis House.

But she let herself cry, because the loss of a loved one, no matter what way you lose them, was always upsetting. How could she think Fabian would stay in her life? Was she truly that stupid? Or was she just lost in the moment, hoping for the best, like Rose DeWitt Bukator was?

However, Nina wasn't as strong as Rose. She wouldn't have been able to blow that **whistle** after losing her soulmate. She was a selfish person who screamed into her pillow when she received the invitation to Mara and Fabian's wedding, because all she wanted in the world was for her name to be replaced with Mara's.

She let the tears fall, too lazy to reach up and wipe them away, and began to walk away. She aimed for the **doorway**, her arms crossed, her knee-length dress bouncing along with her strides as her legs took her exactly where she wanted to go. Fabian would never have to see her again; she could save him from the grief of having her in life again, because all she would cause is anger and betrayal and god knows what she would do with her feelings in the picture—

"NINA!"

_God, no_, she thought, immediately stopping in her tracks. Her legs and fists shook because she knew that voice; she knew it much too well. It was the voice she'd dreamed of hearing for over five years, but the one time she can actually hear it, Nina wants it to vanish and leave her alone.

"Nina, wait up! WAIT UP!"

She tried to hold herself together as she turned around. "Where are you going?" Fabian's voice was a mixture of laughter and concern, panting with his hands on his knees, his back arched and breathing in exhaustion. "I was literally just saying thank you to Eddie because of the gift he brought...hey, are you...are you crying?"

"What?" Nina blurted suddenly, as she wasn't expecting such a question to pop up. She began to defend herself by: "No. No, I'm not crying. You're crazy. I'm not crying."

"Then why are there tears streaming down your face?"

Maybe it was because she had been without love in her life for so long, but Fabian's gentle yet chilling touch made her want to melt into him and learn all of the secrets he had kept hidden away.

When he wiped away her tears, a clichéd yet loving **gesture**, Nina had never felt more comfortable or more at home. When he tore his hands away from her face, he made her crave his touch more than she'd ever felt before. Oh, how she longed for all those months and years for his presence...—

"Because I..." She answered, after a fixed look from Fabian. "I'm just so happy that you're married."

"I know that isn't true," Fabian answered simply, his hand around hers. She could only wonder why he felt so comfortable touching her, when his wife was a mere hundred feet away.

"And how do you know that?" Nina's tone was vulgar, snapping at him before she could even think about it.

"Well, I'm not doubting that you're happy for me," He shrugged. He almost looked at ease with her, lightly dragging her back on the dance floor with him. Shadows from her tears still lingered on her cheeks, but Nina didn't protest as Fabian's hands slowly moved back to her waist and her arms carried themselves to wrap around Fabian's neck. "But I know that you're not _so_ happy that you're _crying_. I know you're feeling a little _jealous_."

"How dare you just assume—"

"Nina, I know you," Fabian smiled, "Amber could have the same _stuffed animal_ as you and you'd get jealous. It's just in your nature. I know that bit about you, at least."

"Yeah, well, I'm not like that anymore," Nina gazed down at the multicolored dance floor, seeing her small feet and Fabian's loafers move closer together as the music finally slowed to a tune more suited to how they were dancing. "I just...I just—"

Instead of assuming, Fabian remained silent, watching Nina's expression change by the second. She was too ashamed to look up at him, because at that moment she was contemplating giving all her secrets away. She'd been living in the darkness for too long; how many more days and years could she take before she completely broke down, giving all her secrets away like they were extra change?

Standing here in front of Fabian, feeling like she had never left his embrace, told her to do what was right. It was time to stop living in the past, embrace her feelings, and tell Fabian how she felt.

"I was just missing you, okay?"

"Missing me?" Fabian questioned, his eyes soft. It made her less nervous to know he wasn't completely taken aback.

"Yeah. I missed you," She sighed, moving with his feet to the music. "I haven't seen you in such a long time. I kind of imagined the next time we'd see each other wouldn't be at your wedding."

Nina laughed again, thinking of the day that she received the invitation in the mail; she ripped it up and threw it on he ground, stomped on it, screamed and cried, all because the boy who had meant so much to her was marrying another woman. She knew somewhere deep in her soul that him marrying Mara would work out well, but her selfishness took over and told her to pout and scream, even though no one could hear.

Fabian was silent, biting down on his bottom lip while his neck was slightly arched toward the ceiling. His eyes weren't on her, but instead inspecting the sheet rock on the bottom of the **roof**. Nina focused on the music; she couldn't name the song, but it was a soft melody that was meant for a slow dance.

It wasn't until the song was almost over that Fabian asked her: "...Nina, do you still have feelings for me?"

"What?" Nina blurted once again, feeling a blush of embarrassment form on her cheeks. She hadn't stated it outright, nor had she ever told him how she felt.

She suddenly felt the urge to break away from Fabian's grasp and leave the ballroom completely, never return to Fabian's life, and isolate herself because of the fool she'd made of herself that evening. "Are you insane, what makes you think that I'd—"

Fabian held her gaze so tightly that she never felt she had to break away. His eyes had a sort of softness to them; a sort of understanding yet curiosity as to why Nina was feeling this way.

Nina's stomach twisted in knots and she couldn't form the right words. A lump formed in her throat, the kind that you get when you're about to cry, but no tears came. Just simply looking at Fabian caused all these emotions she wanted to forget, the ones she tried to leave behind in 2012, but always came back to haunt her during the sleepless nights.

She swallowed the lump in her throat and ignored the knots in her stomach and decided to come clean. If Fabian wasn't angry, what was the point of hiding?

"I might," she breathed, too ashamed to look up at him once more.

Even though her eyes were aimed at the dance floor, she heard Fabian heave a sigh. Her stomach twisted and turned as a mixture of shame and hatred washed over her, but the weight of six years of carrying the burden of not telling anyone but her feelings for Fabian that she had harbored since 2010 was no longer on her shoulders.

Still, though, she couldn't deny the shame that was eating away at her. She had just confessed her feelings at the _worst possible time in the world_; Nina couldn't imagine what Fabian was thinking. "See, I told you that you shouldn't be dancing with me, I'm just being selfish and stupid and—"

"No, Nina, you're none of those things."

At his words, she turned her head to face him. His words were honest and blunt, but his smile he had worn before had faded. Still, Nina couldn't even begin to process what he had said; Nina was openly admitting what a horrible person she was, but Fabian was denying all of her bad qualities. Even after she had just told him she was still in love with him at his _own wedding_, he still wanted her to feel like she wasn't selfish or stupid?

Their time dancing could have been so peaceful, had it not been for her confession. Maybe they could have made peace with the past, exchanged numbers, kept in contact...maybe they could have been friends.

_You know that's not possible,_ Nina told herself. _He's not yours anymore and you won't be here much longer._ "You're married to Mara now, so I shouldn't have said anything—"

"No, I'm glad you did," Fabian told her, much more uncertainty in his voice than before. "I'd feel bad if you didn't. I...I never meant to break your heart, darling. I didn't know you still had feelings for me."

"I never told you," Nina said reasonably, her eyes staring at his shoulder instead of his face. "How could you have known if I haven't spoken to you in years?"

"I know," Fabian sighed, shaking his head in exasperation. The two moved slowly now, their feet telling them where to go. "It feels so long since we went wrong, you know?"

For a moment, Nina was silent. Before today, Nina hadn't spoken to Fabian in six years; was this how he spoke of them? _Wrong_? "You consider us...something bad?"

"No. No, I could never consider our time together bad," Fabian assured her, the tiniest of smiles on his face. Nina couldn't read him; was he feeling guilty because of her confession earlier, or was he thinking about something else? "It's just that during our last year in high school, I didn't go one day without thinking of you."

"You couldn't?"

"No," He said quietly, his eyes diverting to the ground. For once, Nina actually wanted to see his face. "In fact...you were the last thought I had before Robert turned me into a sinner."

"What?" She asked, a tone of surprise in her voice. First she admitted her feelings, but now Fabian was telling her something much more personal, something she knew she shouldn't have been hearing. She almost wanted to backtrack and stop Fabian from saying that, but now that she had heard it, she couldn't erase the thought from her mind.

Fabian didn't look up at her, but he said, "Yeah. And I...I can't believe I'm admitting this, but...yeah. You were. When Frobisher shoved me into the sarcophagus, I thought of you."

Nina let Fabian continue, slowly and hesitantly. "I thought of how adventurous you were and how I longed to be the same. I thought of how supportive you were of Amber when she was running for school rep and you knew she had stupid policies. I thought of how you always laughed at my jokes, no matter how stupid or lame they were. You were the last thought in my head before I became a sinner. You were the only thing that kept me sane when I was evil."

After the words were spoken, Nina was struck speechless once again. Patricia had told Amber about their time fighting Robert and the sinners in high school, since neither of them had been there, and Amber had told _her_; it seemed no one in Anubis House had wanted to stay in contact with her.

This was the first time since 2012 that Fabian had simply seen her; how could he admit such a secret, and what was Nina supposed to say in response?

"Fabian, I...I don't know what to say," Nina breathed, brushing loose strands of her hair away from her eyes. Fabian had moved his gaze back on to Nina's once again.

"You don't have to say anything," Fabian attempted a smile, squeezing Nina's hand as they swayed along. "If you can admit that you were still in love with me, I could admit that."

"But that's...a much deeper secret than my unfair feelings," Nina told him sternly, another wave of guilt washing over her. After another moment of silence between them, they seemed to come to a silent truce; both confessions contained deep secrets that neither wanted the other to know. They were out in the open now; they were even.

"Yeah, but you never left my mind. _I_ was the person that made Mara send you an invitation. I wanted you here. And I want to dance with you now." Fabian shot her a huge smile, suddenly taking Nina's arm and twirling her under it, weak laughs released from both of them.

They danced to the beat of the music, slow but almost hopeful. Five minutes ago, she wanted to run out of the door and never see Fabian again, but now she couldn't imagine not being in his arms; she couldn't imagine what she would do if she had declined his invitation because the warm touch she was feeling at that moment would be missed out on.

She never wanted to leave. She wanted to stay with him, and be his friend if she couldn't be something more...but she knew that was impossible.

"I'm enjoying this," Nina told him simply, thinking that if she said something hopeful, maybe the good thing could infiltrate into her life. She didn't want to become estranged to Fabian again.

"I'm enjoying this too," Fabian smiled, like he found Nina's news pleasing. "You know, this can kind of be my way of paying back my debt?"

"What debt?"

"Remember Mick and Amber's getting-back-together party?" Fabian asked with a grin, his eyebrows raised. Nina and Fabian's arms were outstretched as they moved to their left.

"Oh yeah," Nina tilted her head back and laughter, thinking about that day. It was only a few weeks after she had first arrived at Anubis House, and Amber hadn't even become her roommate yet, but Fabian was already involved in the mystery.

"Well, we had just come back from looking for clues in the attic," Fabian explained. "You were...you were so confident up there, guiding me...not to mention how beautiful you looked. I wanted to dance with you at the party, because my crush on you was deepening every day. But then Alfie came in with his head in a deer head, saying he was a party animal, and then Victor came in demanding to know who took the attic key." Fabian rolled his eyes, but the smile never left his face. Nina supposed he was simply reminiscing on good memories.

"Yeah, I remember that. So I guess this dance is the one you've owed me for 12 years?" Now that they had mentioned it, Nina couldn't help but think about the differences between Fabian in 2010 and Fabian now, in 2018. He was only 8 years older, but his face had taken quite to aging, making him look like the middle-aged man he was.

Truly, he didn't look that different, but his features were more aged.

"I guess it is. And you're not stepping on my feet!" Fabian cheered, making Nina laugh in response. She slapped him lightly on the arm, but neither stopped dancing.

The song changed from a slow drawl to a song with a more upbeat pattern, but the only other couple slowdancing on the floor didn't stop, either. Nina knew Fabian didn't care that he was dancing with her, but she couldn't think about how many people were staring at her at that exact moment, exchanging insults about the tramp that had stolen Fabian away from his wife.

"You know, I missed you too," Fabian told her slowly, only making Nina more confident in dancing with her former friend.

"I kind of presumed that," Nina's tone was light and airy, but it still retained the bliss of knowing the fact that Fabian missed her, just as much as she missed him.

"No, I did," Fabian continued, even though no one pressed him to. Nina followed the movement of his lips, tracing every word he said and wishing her lips could taste his and know every word he had ever spoken. "I missed _you_. I didn't just miss your presence, I missed you as a person. You don't even know how much I'm enjoying this."

She blushed and looked at the ground in embarrassment, but her smile immediately faded once she realized the consequences of doing such.

"What?" Fabian asked, a look of concern wrinkling his noise and forehead. His eyebrows furrowed, and Nina knew she was in for it. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong," Nina immediately tried to get the subject off her, but her mind wasn't with her. It was with the fact that in a while, she wouldn't be anywhere near Fabian.

It was 2018 and Nina was 23, so she was expected to act maturely. Apparently, ripping and stomping on the invitation because she lived alone and didn't want her former best friend marrying _Mara_ wasn't "mature" enough for a 23 year old.

Fabian hadn't said a word, so Nina stared at the ground. Nina's small feet constantly stepped over Fabian's large loafers, but he still remained silent.

For the next few moments, things seemed to disappear. The uninterpretible chatter around them at the tables dissipated into the air, the other guests on the dance floor vanished, and the music from the DJ table muted. For a short, pleasant moment, it was just her and Fabian.

Then that moment ended. Nina noticed that Fabian was staring at her, his gaze unwavering. "What?" Nina asked innocently.

"I know you're lying," Fabian told her flatly, his cheery grin no longer in his face.

"I'm not lying," Nina lied.

"When Jerome asked where Patricia went when she didn't come back to the House after visiting Alfie in the hospital, you told him she had a boyfriend in a goth band."

"Yeah, but—"

"When Victor caught us staring out the telescope in the living room, you said we were looking for a bowling alley because apparently, I love to bowl."

"So I might have been bad at lying back in the day. But it doesn't mean—"

"Are you still an amateur taxidermist?"

"Shut the fuck up!" Nina laughed, lightly and playfully shoving Fabian away. He laughed as well, seeming much more untroubled than he had a few moments ago when Nina finally admitted that she still had feelings for him. "Ha...Fine. Still, nothing's wrong."

"Are you not enjoying this?" Fabian's jovial look suddenly morphed into a hurt one; it pained her to see him like that, his eyes expressing so much more emotion with such a simple look.

"No, I am," she promised him. "I'm very much enjoying this. I love being with you. But...this can't happen again."

While Nina was dreading the moments after, Fabian groaned and tilted his head back in exasperation. "Are you afraid of Mara getting mad again? That won't happen. I already told her I wanted to dance with you, and—"

"No. It's not that," Nina immediately defended.

"Then what is it?" Fabian's look of concern was raw, as if he was actually frightened that something might happen to her.

Deep inside his mind, where no one could see or understand, however, he was legitimately afraid that she'd be lost to him forever; just like he felt when he sent Nina down the pitfall in the Senet game all those years ago.

Nothing could ever compare to the grief he felt when he went to sleep that night, but now he didn't want this moment to end. He asked, "Why can't this happen again? Do you not want to be friends anymore or something?"

"No, I do!" Nina defended herself again. "Don't ever think that I don't want that. I just have...bad news, I suppose, but it can wait. Amber told me that you guys graduated...weren't you Valedictorian?"

Fabian knew that Nina was just trying to throw the subject off, but he didn't really mind. "No." If Fabian could have scratched the back of neck, he would've. He remembered that Nina, in 11th grade, was anticipating him being Valedictorian. "Mara was. I guess those days chasing a stolen artifact from King Tut's tomb, trying to avoid death in the tunnels, and running away from Frobisher Smythe will affect your grades a little bit."

"Yeah, you'd think," Nina smiled, brightening Fabian's day just a little more. "Where did you go to college?"

"This really nice place in London," Fabian answered, remembering the college days. "My roommate was strangely a combination of both Mick and Eddie, so you can imagine I was disappointed. What about you?"

"Nowhere special," Nina shrugged, as if the information wasn't important. "Some place in Ohio."

There wasn't much to go off after that, but Fabian wanted to continue the conversation."Can you believe that we finished college? Seems like yesterday that Eddie and Patricia were pranking Mr. Sweet in 11th grade science."

Nina shrugged once again, stating simply: "Time flies."

"We were so close back then...I want to be like that again." Fabian told her, glancing at her morosely from above. He hit his growth spurt much later than she did, at 16, right when 11th grade started, so he finally had some height on her. "I have your number, but I never call...I don't even know where you live."

"I've lived in Liverpool for the past two years, so I was never that far away," she said. Nina's expression was difficult to read, but her words surprised him.

"You have?" Fabian's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "What about your grandmother?"

"Um...she died when I was 19." Once again, Fabian tried to read Nina thoroughly, but she was almost impossible.

If her grandmother died when Nina was 19, then it had been 4 years. Fabian knew that 4 years was a long time, but if he lost his only family...

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Fabian apologized, even though it was utterly useless.

How had he not known about this? Nina and him were so close in high school...they did everything together. When Nina listened to the doll's tune in the attic during the 'welcome back' picnic in her second year, Fabian was the first person she told about the riddle.

Now, he hadn't known that Nina's grandmother, her only family left, had died four years ago. Where did all that time searching for the next clue towards the Cup of Ankh and time in the tunnels go?

"No, it's fine," Nina attempted a smile, moving along with Fabian's body to the song. "She was in a lot of pain, with her cancer and everything...she's not in pain anymore. And if you're wondering, I found Amber in New York after my grandmother died, so I stayed with Amber in her apartment for a few years until we worked up enough **money** to fly to Liverpool again and live there."

"Well, that's good," Fabian told her honestly, though his mind was still drifting to their time apart. He knew he wasn't supposed to — Mara was only a few steps away — but here was his best friend and sweetheart in high school, a person he hadn't seen in almost 6 years.

"It's nice to have you here, anyway," he continued nonchalantly. "I just hope that Amber doesn't request _that_ song, because she's eyeing us right now..."

Nina and Fabian turned their heads to Amber, who was sitting next to Alfie and Willow at table three. Alfie and Willow married each other soon after graduation, and even though everyone doubted they would stay together, their first daughter was on the way. Willow had decided to eat healthy during her pregnancy, so she bit into an **apple** while Amber noticed Nina and Fabian staring at her, and waved to them cheerily, but soon turned away to talk with Alfie again. "Hm. She actually looks...sad."

The next moment, he turned and glanced at Nina. Her arms were still laying around his neck, but the wave from Amber seemed to please her to no end.

He felt bad that he wasn't the person to do this, but it made him happy that such a simple gesture had made her smile.

With a smile on her face, Nina turned around and started to dance with Fabian again. "It's probably because you're marrying Mara and I'm leaving the country..." she muttered, "Oh, shit, I shouldn't have said that!"

For the next three seconds, her words didn't process. Then it hit Fabian like a train.

"You're leaving?" He questioned, his pleased expression fading, replaced both with concern and confusion.

"Um, I—" Nina tried to defend herself, but it was already too late. Anger was beginning to creep up onto Fabian; Nina was _leaving_ — yet another thing she hadn't told him — and it was starting to annoy him.

"Don't even try to say anything else," He said firmly, but he was afraid that it came off as angry. He was definitely angry, but he didn't want Nina to know. "I heard you say it. Where are you going? Back to America?"

"Not exactly," Nina said sullenly, staring down at the floor with guilt. Before, their dance had spanned a small area, but now they stood still in the corner of the dance floor. The dance and mindless chatter continued, and Fabian should have been joining them in the celebration of the wedding between him and Mara, but news had been dropped between them.

"Then where?!" Fabian asked desperately. "Nina, I need to know."

He felt bad that Nina was guilty about not telling him (especially because they hadn't spoken in almost six years), but he knew he needed to know. Fabian would _never_ forgive himself if he let Nina walk out on him now and not know where Nina would be.

Nina took in a deep breath and tried to move loose strands of her hair away from her face, but a bang still would not move from in front of her eyes. "I'm kind of going to Egypt."

"EGYPT?!" Fabian sputtered.

"Yeah, I should have told you before..." Nina's look of sorrow and guilt could never be replicated, nor would it ever leave Fabian's memory, but Egypt was...Egypt was so far away. So, so far away. "I'm sorry. I just didn't know how to say it. I'm really, really sorry."

"Well, don't apologize..." He told her, trying not to let herself feel guilty, but the words were echoing in his head. Fabian and everyone was in Liverpool right now, and Nina would be leaving to go to the eastern tip of Africa. "Why are you going to Egypt?"

"I went to college to be an archaeologist," Nina explained, which made sense. "My group...we're going to Egypt for an excavation."

"Yeah," Fabian breathed, his heart sinking to the pit of his chest. Just when he had found his former best friend again...she had to leave. "Guess you can't look for the Cup of Ankh, right?" He said, an overly lame attempt to make a joke.

"Right..." Nina's eyes met Fabian's for half a second before they turned back to the ground in sorrow. She almost laughed, but Fabian still couldn't process the words in his mind.

_Leaving_.

_Egypt_.

It made no sense to him. He knew the quests for both the Cup of Ankh and Mask of Anubis meant a lot to her; she always told him how grateful she was for Sibuna to be her group of best friends in 11th grade. She told him she regretted leaving that one time he spoke to her over chat right after graduation. She constantly told him that she couldn't be luckier to have Fabian as her best friend and to know a person as wonderful as him.

They'd always spoken about going to visit Egypt sometime in the future in high school, but neither of them really thought it would happen; they were teenagers. Stupid, reckless teenagers, ones who rebelled against teachers by hiding ancient relics from King Tut's tomb under the stairs and thwarting their plans to find the Mask. They knew they'd bring their own downfall one day, but neither of them planned on Nina giving up her place at the House for Eddie.

"When are you leaving?" Fabian asked, his voice soft so as Nina knew he wasn't mad. He was confused and a bit insulted, honestly, but he tried to ignore it for her sake.

"It's not important," She tried to evade the subject, her eyes almost permanently glued to the ground. Fabian gently lifted her head like he had done before with his finger so she was looking at him, so softly that all she would feel was his fingertips.

"Of course it's important," He told her tenderly, trying to sound as comforting and welcoming as he had practiced before he walked up to her table. "I want to know. I can send you off, or something. I want to know when you're leaving."

He knew he was married to Mara and that Nina still had feelings for him, but he delicately stroked her cheek in reassurance that she could tell him. Nina had always been a mystery to him; there were nights during his last year of high school, the year Sibuna fought Frobisher, that he'd lie awake at night and wonder what it would be like if Nina and Amber hadn't left.

He wondered if it was his fault, he wondered what would have happened to KT if Nina and Amber had remained since she wouldn't be able to reside in Anubis House, and he wondered if Nina and him would have stayed together or split permanently. He knew that during her last year, the year of the tunnels, that underlying tension had never faded, and neither did the feelings. They simply split because of a misunderstanding and remained broken up within the entire school year because they were having trouble communicating.

At the time, Fabian didn't understand that Nina was under a lot of pressure; an evil spirit was threatening both her and her friends' lives, and she had to find the Mask of Anubis before that spirit killed them all. Plus, with them being hexed and unable to respond to her for a portion of the air, it made it hard for her to remain calm and collected.

Fabian could understand. He had a lot of patience, but if he was under half the pressure that Nina was, he would crack just as quickly.

"Tomorrow evening."

Fabian blinked, and once again, it took him three full seconds to fully understand what she was saying.

"Tomorrow evening," Fabian responded, his heart already at the pit of his chest, but seemed to fall further down.

How could this be happening? Just when he could have been able to mend their friendship, she had to go and leave him. The news struck him like a ton of bricks, and all he could do was encourage her because god damn, she was leaving _tomorrow_.

"Yeah," Nina confirmed sullenly, "my bags are all packed because I'm boarding the plane tomorrow. See, I shouldn't have said anything. I'm such an idiot—"

"No, no, no, don't ever say that," He told her, believing each word he spoke. "You're _not_ an idiot. And don't get me wrong, I'm beyond proud of you, but this is...a little sudden. I guess...I guess we really can't be friends anymore, can we?"

"I guess not," Nina said, her tone morose and upsetting. The world around them seemed to mute again, but the slow and sad tune from the DJ table was all that was being heard. "Besides, it would be too painful."

"Painful?" Fabian asked.

"Yeah," Nina smiled, but the thing was, she almost seemed to be laughing at herself. "My stupid feelings for you would get in the way somehow, and I might do something completely idiotic one day to break you and Mara up and seeing you with her will just—"

"Shush," Fabian removed one hand from behind her waist and held her arm lightly, looking her straight in the eye. "Look...I may not understood what you're feeling, but I don't think you'd try to do _that_..." His eyes expressed a light humor to them, which made Nina genuinely smile. He knew that smile; the one where she couldn't believe she had made such amazing, unique friends at such a weird place. "That's a bit extreme. Can we just...can we just start again?"

"Start again?" Nina wondered innocently, her hands curling behind his neck from different emotions.

"Forget that all of this ever happened," Fabian told her, trying to forget himself. If they really couldn't be friends since Nina was going to Egypt, then maybe they could make their peace. Maybe, just maybe, they could work out their problems before they walked out on them.

"Like...forget that we were in Sibuna together?" Nina's hurt expression would linger with Fabian forever; how could she think that? "Forget that we found the Cup of Ankh and the Mask of Anubis together?"

"No!" Fabian protested quietly, careful not to disturb the peace. He wondered how Mara, Patricia, Joy, and Jerome hadn't stopped talking yet. Patricia wasn't very good at small talk. "Never. I don't ever want to forget that," he told her honestly. "Just...forget that this day happened, I mean. Forget that we just admitted all of that."

"Like how I still have feelings for you," Nina contributed, but it was almost a question, as if she was wondering what she was supposed to be doing.

"Like how I never forgot you," Fabian continued, staring at the dance floor behind her. No one had either come on the dance floor while they were dancing, nor did anyone leave, so there was a total of five people, not including Nina or Fabian.

"Like how I deleted everyone's text messages but yours," Nina continued, neither of them looking at each other.

"Like how I kept the crown from when we were prom king and queen."

"Like how I ripped up the invitation to your wedding because I was beyond jealous and thought of nothing but crying."

"Like how I almost attacked Eddie over a rumor that you had an affair with him over the summer."

"Like how I wished every day that I hadn't left the school."

"And like how I had a nightmare the day after my first kiss with Mara that you accused me of being unfaithful and I almost — _almost_ — called you and asked if we could get back together."

The silence between them after that moment would remain with him forever, as it was equally both the awkwardest and the scariest moment of his life. Here he stood, dancing with his former girlfriend and best friend, and he had just admitted that he almost gave in to temptation and called her after his first kiss with Mara. He loved Mara, he really did; but he didn't know how he felt about Nina.

He retained the knowledge that if you say you didn't love someone anymore, you didn't love them at all, but he knew he did love Nina. He loved her with all of his heart back in high school. She made him open up and realize that he had to stop being a pushover and stand up for himself; if she hadn't been there to tell him that, he wouldn't have been able to threaten Eddie in high school.

"See? Forgotten already," he shrugged, trying to shake off the memories.

"Yep. Completely forgotten," Nina's voice was heavy with both guilt and fear. "I don't even remember the sleepless nights."

"Nina, I don't want it to be like this," Fabian said almost immediately after.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"I don't want to look back on today and frown. I want to smile. If you're heading east and I may never see you again, then I want to make our peace," he explained softly, never moving his gaze. If this was the last time he ever saw her...he wanted to make good use of his time and remember what she looked like: her thick brown wavy hair, her green eyes that weren't that pretty but always had a hint of curiosity and excitement to them, and everything else about her.

"Like you want us both to move on?" She asked again, blinking slowly. It was as if she was trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together, as her eyebrows were arched.

"Exactly," Fabian told her, his chest heavy against his body. He couldn't believe that he actually had to say goodbye to her. "That and remember the good times we had together."

"Like what?"

"Like when Patricia apologized for pouring water on Amber's head and Alfie fell of his chair in amazement," Fabian said lightly, laughing at the memory already.

"Or when Patricia and Eddie had that prank war on Mr. Sweet and the entire class laughed," Nina contributed, and Fabian smiled brighter. It was the good times like that that Fabian wanted to remember, not the bad days, like today.

"And like when we were trying to find an elixir sample in the cellar and Jerome and Alfie scared the living shit out of us with the zombie costumes."

"When Jerome had to get the gem from Mr. Sweet's suit of armor and Alfie organized a literal wild goose chase."

"Or the day before we left 11th grade, relaxing in the common room, and suddenly we hear "I LIKE BIG BUTTS AND I CANNOT LIE" come from inside the bathroom and suddenly we all know Alfie's in there."

"That time when Amber and I tried to rescue Patricia from Rufus's grasp, but she just ended up getting us stuck inside the warehouse in the **forest** ourselves and she gave me a teapot to fight you off."

"Every single time that Alfie teased me at night saying I had a crush on you, and I felt the urge to throw myself off a **cliff** more and more each time he told me I was in love with you."

"A lot of our good times come from Alfie, don't they?" Nina asked, her smile wide with happiness and glee. It was exactly what Fabian wanted. Maybe now, he could leave happy.

"Well, that day you persuaded me to come to the attic with you had nothing to do with him," Fabian remembered, "He was too busy seducing girls with his vampire outfit."

"Neither did the time you put your jacket around me in the attic," Nina recalled happily, her smile remaining on her face. It was one of the only times today that she seemed genuinely happy, not thinking about Mara being angry or having to leave after the dance was over.

It was then that Fabian remembered that their dance had to end. He was married to Mara now, and besides, their wedding couldn't go on all night. Sometime soon, Fabian and Nina had to exchange goodbyes and part ways, and Fabian would have go off with Mara.

Mara was a pain in the ass. Don't get him wrong; he loved her with all of his heart. He couldn't wait to spend the rest of his life with her and possibly even have children. He couldn't have picked a better bride. But she was a pain in the ass; she always thought she was better than everyone, she never learned from her mistakes, and even after five years, her bitterness towards Jerome because he cheated on her had never faded.

Fabian was in love with her, but she was a pain in the ass. Nina was a pain in the ass, too, don't get him wrong; but at least she learned from her mistakes. Mara wasn't under the amount of pressure that Nina was during 11th grade. Anyone was bound to snap if they had a spirit on their tail every hour of every day, constantly telling them to find the Mask. Nina just cracked a little early.

"Or when we worked together to help Trudy bake cupcakes for Perspective Parenting day and we put the chandelier together," Fabian continued, trying to erase all the bad memories to make room for the good ones. Why live in the past?

"When we bumped heads in the fireplace, too," she contributed, laughing to herself, probably remembering. However, for Fabian, it brought on a wave of emotions.

"You know, that was when I really started to fall in love with you," Fabian told her honestly, his feet barely moving now. They were almost in the center of the dance floor.

"Hm?" Nina wondered lightly, as if she was walking on air.

"Yeah," Fabian decided to continue, anyway, even if her head wasn't with her heart. "If I had bumped into the head of anyone else in the house, they would have yelled at me and told me it was my fault. But you...you brushed it off. You made it into a joke. That was when my crush on you began to turn into love."

"Was it really?" Nina asked, her attention turned on Fabian again. He couldn't read her expression thoroughly, but she seemed...happy. Pleased by this information, almost.

"Uh huh," Fabian smiled, thanking the heavens that she didn't take the news too heavily. "Amber and the others all thought I liked you, which was true, but it was more than that. I loved you. I was heartbroken when you didn't come back for the last year of school. I couldn't imagine my life at Anubis without you."

Nina blinked, but she didn't seem upset anymore. As she stared at the ground, her head mere inches from his shoulder, she thought out her answer. "Fabian, I—I'm so sorry. I was just doing what was best."

"I know," He accepted her apology. "And I understood that. Though I still can't understand why you'd even _remotely_ have feelings for me, because—"

"I have a million and one reasons for liking — and still loving — you, okay?" Her smile brought on another wave of emotions, but these were good ones. He remembered the rush he felt once he had bumped into Nina's head in the fireplace in 2010, or when Nina invited him on the picnic date in the attic in 2011, or almost crying when he couldn't remember who she was in 2012...some of those good moments, the moments that made him realize how strongly he felt towards this woman.

"Oh really?" Fabian asked incredulously, not believing a word of what she was saying. "I'd love to hear them, because you'll probably tell lies."

"Well, you're funny—" She began.

"I am not funny—"

"You're funny in a dorky kind of way," Her smile only grew as she spoke. "Amber didn't think your lame Chemistry jokes were funny, but I did. And I trust you. You're the sweetest, kindest person I've ever met. You keep my stupidest secrets. You were on my side from the start. You have so much potential and you don't even realize it. You're the smartest person I—"

"Okay, okay, I get it," Fabian smiled brighter than she did, his eyes alight with happiness and bliss. Nina had just complimented him in every way he'd ever want to be complimented. "Thank you."

Fabian had always been introverted, mostly because the residents of Anubis House had always called him a nerdy pushover. Joy and Patricia mostly hung around each other, so they wouldn't really talk to him much. He never really had a good friend until Nina came along.

He knew something was different about her from the moment she introduced herself. Throughout the year, she proved she was completely and utterly crazy by dragging Fabian along on attic trips, leaving the play to crack Victor's safe, and throwing hourglasses full of deadly bugs at 90+ year-old men.

But the fact that Nina, from the start, thought Fabian was **trustworthy** enough to keep the secret of Anubis House's mysteries was enough to draw him to her.

"It's no problem. I was telling the truth," Nina told him. The two of them stared in each other's eyes for a few more moments when the song ended once again, but the DJ cued up another track. This one was slower than the one playing before, so Nina laid her head on Fabian's shoulder and he pressed his hand to the back of her neck, lightly protecting her from any harm to come her way.

They danced like that for a few moments, pure bliss, nothing protesting their dance or trying to break them apart. It was just Nina and Fabian, together on the dance floor.

No Mara.

No ancient prophecy that said the Osirian and the Chosen One couldn't be near each other.

No hundred-year-old mystery threatening their lives and trying to break them apart; no Rufus kidnapping students and holding deadly bugs to their ears, no evil spirit controlling what they did or said, and no zombie trying to turn them into sinners.

It was just Nina and Fabian, feeling the warmth of each others' breaths, the strength of their hands and confidence of the grip they held. Nina was one of the few things Fabian was sure of; sure that he wanted, sure of what a good person she was, sure of how much she had changed him.

"I think your wife wants you, Fabian," Nina whispered softly, her head still lying on his shoulder. She seemed perfectly content.

"Just one more song," he offered, not wanting her to leave his side. He wanted to stay like this forever, just her and him against the world, no redhead rebel or class clown or prep getting in the way of their story.

"We've already been dancing for five songs," she told him, her voice no louder than a whisper. More couples had moved on to the dance floor now that the slow song was playing, but the wedding cake was still untouched, and sure enough, Mara was waiting for her husband in her beautiful wedding gown behind the cake.

"Mara can wait," he told her desperately, trying anything to make her stay. Their feet moved as slow as an old **turtle** waddling towards the water's edge. "I'm married to her. You're going to Egypt tomorrow and I want my last memory of you to be a good one."

"You're _married_ to her, though," Nina's tone was incomprehensible like a book written in a foreign language that you only knew one word of. "I feel like you should pay her _some_ attention."

"Just one more song, okay?" He asked, Nina finally moving her head from Fabian's shoulder. "Then I'll move on. I just need one last dance with you."

"Okay," Nina agreed, trying for a smile, but it was as watery as the sidewalk after a rainstorm. So in the short time they had, and even though Fabian knew Nina was right, he treasured every moment left of the song. He didn't listen to the beats or the lyrics, but instead focused on her heartbeat against his chest. She had been alive and breathing this entire time, and it felt natural against his chest; like Nina was the other half to his heart, his soulmate, his long-lost lover—

"It's the end of the song, Fabian," Nina told him, as quiet as a mouse.

Fabian's heart sunk even lower, if that was even possible. "I know, just—"

"Go back to Mara," she told him sadly. Fabian wondered if she was thinking the same things he was. I know you love her. "It's time to spend the rest of your life with her."

He spent the next thirty seconds staring at her, trying to soak in everything about her. It happened in a flash as he remembered all his moments with her, ranging from the time she bumped into him as she tried to catch up to the taxi driver to the last dance they shared in the House of Anubis, after the library finally closed down and they faced their oppressed feelings throughout the year.

This was it; their time together was finally coming to a close. The door to their love had been ajar for the past six years, but now someone was finally shutting it all the way.

"Okay," Fabian finally agreed, trying to hold back tears. "It was wonderful dancing with you, Nina."

"You too," Nina whispered, her eyes as fragile as glass. He tried to read through them, but she hid her face away. "Bye, Fabian."

"Goodbye, Nina," he exchanged, and Nina removed her hand from Fabian's. The warmth immediately faded, and Fabian was left alone on the dance floor. Never in his life had he felt so cold; without Nina's warmth, he felt like he needed mittens and a **scarf**. It was a lonely isle without her.

He watched her walk slowly towards the door, holding one arm behind her back with her hand. Her purple dress and wavy brown hair bounced with her movements. She didn't glance back, but she ran her fingers along the door frame one last time before walking out of the reception hall.

That was the last time he ever saw her.

* * *

**A/N: ****Were you expecting a happy ending? Well, Fabina didn't get a happy ending in the show, so now happy ending in fics, either. I'm sorry if you expecting a happy ending, but apparently people were expecting Gone For Good to have a happy ending, too, and, well...**

**So now that this is finally finished, I can work on some other projects of mine (thank god), and to anyone who reads Don't Be Afraid: **THE UPDATE WILL BE POSTED TOMORROW. I swear to God, chapter 52 will be up tomorrow.

**I've been working on this for over a month now (since March 26th), so I do hope you enjoyed, and if you actually read through all that, please leave a review and tell me what you thought! Thanks :)**


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